Piled in a binder at the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District office are more than 700 letters and printed e-mails. They come from a range of different folks: snowmobilers, cross country skiers, snowshoers, backcountry ski enthusiasts and others. While the writers' backgrounds vary, the subject matter does not.
Each of these writings is a comment on the proposed Kapka Butte
Sno-park, a parking facility that would include 70 spots for trailers
and 40 additional slots for other vehicles near the Forest Road 45
cutoff (to Sunriver) from the Cascade Lakes Highway. The intent of the
proposed park, which is being built by the U.S. Forest Service, is to
create more space for higher-elevation recreation in addition to the
Dutchman Flat Sno-park - something that has been in discussion for
almost 15 years. Both motorized and non-motorized users, many of whom
wrote letters, say that there is a need for more parking in the heavily
used recreation, but that the Kapka Butte project, as it currently
exists, is not the answer.
Marv Lang, a recreation forester with the
Forest Service says that although the public comments period closed in
early February, a draft for the $500,000-plus project isn't likely to
hit the streets until September or October. In short, Lang says the
driving notion behind the project is one that's common in the arena of
public recreation: provide something for everyone. And in this case,
"everyone" ranges from snowmobilers to backcountry skiers to snowshoers
and many others.
